UAE national awaiting India trial may seek Amnesty help

Alkaz Khamis Obaid Ali, a former military officer, was detained at Hyderabad airport in 2007 and charged with three separate counts of smuggling 26 million rupees from Pakistan to India.

37-year-old Ali has been acquitted of two of the counts, but the trial at Hyderabad's Metropolitan Sessions Court on the final charge, which began in September 2009, has been regularly postponed, the National newspaper reported.

The father of three is on bail awaiting his trial and is now contemplating to take his case to Amnesty International.

"I'm really fed up. I went to court for the hearing on January 11 and the hearing was postponed till January 18. On that day it was again postponed until February 7. Every time, the case is being postponed without any justification," he told the newspaper.

He said if the case is postponed again he intended to seek help from Amnesty International.

"I will go to Delhi and give my case details to Amnesty. I've spoken to the UAE consulate in Mumbai. They said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it will wait until the next hearing," said Ali, who was arrested on August 24, 2007, one day before two bomb blasts rocked Hyderabad.

Eight other people were arrested in connection with the bombings, including two of Ali's brothers-in-law, who are Indian.

The police are reportedly investigating whether the money he is accused of transporting to India was meant to finance the blasts.

Ali retired from the UAE Armed Forces in 2004 and was running a garment-trading business in Dubai.

He said he was in the city on business. He was first held in prison for four years and was then released on bail in 2011.

"Sometimes the judge is on holiday, or the police investigation officer is not available, or the government lawyer is not present, or the court is on holiday. If they find me guilty, OK, punish me. But here I am not being sentenced or acquitted. I am not running away anywhere. It's the police and the judicial process that are running away from me. My family is tired and upset," Ali told the newspaper.

Ali has successfully fought two similar cases